I was tagged for this goal meme by Eduardo Peirano over on his Onlinesapiens blog. It is a pretty interesting meme – and I had some fun reading different people’s goals. The premise is to list “your best, most exclusive, and over-the-top goals.” Well, I have a confession to make – which will most likely go against every tenet that is set down for professional and personal development – I don’t really do goals. I live very day to day. If I’m unhappy with something, I work to change it (and yes, this may involve setting a goal for myself). These goals change constantly depending on where I am or what I am doing in life. This meant that I really had to think about what I would consider to be my most important, until now unspoken, goals.

Finish library school – This goal is almost the entirety of my life right now. I need, I want to be done!!!!!

Take better care of myself – Given that library school has taken over my life, I have little time for exercise, personal down time and relaxation. This needs to change. I’m feeling very fat and lazy of late – and this plays havoc with my mental state.

Travel more – There are so many fascinating places on this planet – and I would love to see them more. High on my list of priorities would be to see the pyramids in Egypt and tour the ancient ruins, relics, etc. in Greece. I’ve been to London twice – and would find it sad to never go back. However, I loved both Paris and Venice. I’m going to Las Vegas in early June – and have high hopes for that experience (especially since I’m definitely going to see the Grand Canyon).

Be happy – This is what I live for. Happiness is the key to everything for me. This is my most important goal.

Again, I won’t tag anyone because I guess although not a goal, it is a rule I live by. However, I’d love to know what your goals are.

Since web quizzes, personality tests, etc. undoubtedly reveal all sorts of fascinating (and always accurate) facts about people, I couldn’t stop myself from taking Dr. Phil’s test. I guess it is making the rounds via email. Given that I don’t ever pass things along, I’m not going to copy the entire email text. I found it via Elizabeth the Librarian’s The Disorganized Librarian blog (who scored a 38). Since you are dying to know what at 32 is, I will post that information.

31 TO 40 POINTS: Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful & practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who’s extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over if that trust is ever broken.

I have to give this one its due – fairly accurate. Well, it is probably the closest of the 6 categories. Make of it what you will!

This past Saturday evening, I was indulging in my voyeuristic tendencies by checking out the Library Society of the World chat room on Meebowhen some of the participants began to speculate that the guest in the room might be Michael Gorman. I felt compelled to reveal myself – which may have been somewhat disappointing to those who thought I might be Gorman. 🙂 So, the verdict? Much more fun than I would have guessed. Just about as addictive as I thought – although I am forcing myself to stay away. It is also worth noting that I wasn’t the only one there on Saturday evening (although I suspect most of the others weren’t on the east coast). So, I don’t feel like a total nerd (just a partial one). To those that were there on Saturday evening, thanks for being guinea pigs to my first chat/IM experience ever (not counting chatting with Comcast tech support once).

It is official – Walt Crawford is looking for a job. As he explains it:

Ever thought you or one of the groups you work for or with could use a Walt Crawford?

Here’s your chance.

The RLG-OCLC transition will be complete in September. I’ve received a termination notice from OCLC, effective September 30, 2007.

I’m interested in exploring new possibilities. For now I’m trying not to narrow the options too much.

I’ve been thinking about this since I heard the news a while back – trying to figure out what I could do to help. Sadly, the only opportunity that I could currently offer would be a chance to write some quality papers having to deal with generic library science topics. Of course, there are two major problems with this. First, my library science professors would probably think this constitutes a violation of academic honesty policies (by the way, this is a joke – I do write all my own material for school). Second, this could only be a volunteer position (I guess what I really need is a clone of myself who isn’t as lazy as the original).

So, it seems as if I can’t do much more than help spread the word at this point. I hope it helps.

I don’t use any type of instant messaging or chat function – ever. Really! Technically, I’ve used live chat once – with Comcast tech support several years ago. Despite being an omnivore with an overwhelming number of gadgets and devices who is hyperconnected, I’ve always avoided any contact with instant messaging. It isn’t because I think it’s bad. I don’t. It is an important means of communication. I guess I’ve just usually found something else that I wanted to play with more. And, none of my friends use it nor do we use it at work – so that doesn’t leave me with anyone to chat with.

Secretly, there is a part of me that thinks instant messaging could become addictive – too addictive – like get-in-the-way-of-work-and-life addictive. This was confirmed for me today with the creation of a Meebo chat room for the Library Society of the World by Joshua M. Neff. Like many others, I felt compelled to check it out – and I don’t even want to speculate about how much time I spent just watching and reading and watching. And seriously, I couldn’t look away. It is very strange to read people’s chats. The text of the chats were often very disjointed – making it difficult to figure out who was responding to whom. But, I felt compelled to try. Seriously, I have to stay away!!!!!

You’re a Nobody Unless Your Name Googles Well, say Kevin J. Delaney from the Wall Street Journal. Are we serious? I guess so, since poor Abigail Garvey became virtually unfindable on the web when she married and took her husband’s last name – Wilson. In order to prevent such a tragedy from happening to her offspring, Abigail Wilson choose baby names based upon their searchability in Google. Wow!! I guess this confirms that Google has indeed taken over the world. Personally, the less findable I am, the happier I am.

I make this last comment with much despair because if you search for Jennifer Macaulay in Google 8 out of the 10 results on the first page are all me. I would have to say that Mack Collier from The Viral Garden has it right when he wrote this piece of advice for overanxious parents: “Pick the name you want for your kiddo, and have them blog. Google absolutely loves blogs.” This blog definitely comes up first in Google results for my name. Interestingly, my profiles on various Ning networks come up next. Work-related pages don’t come up until the 4th or 5th page. I have no clue what to make of any of it.

How long will it be before we are putting our Google rank on our resumes?